Stretch2source brush questions

Been playing around with this brush type and run into a couple of problems. Firstly there is an unpleasant and obvious 'banding' in the paint stroke at low transparencies. I need to set the brush to at least 65 in the paint fill apply > blend setting in order to lose it. All my spacing settings are at the minimum. Secondly, I can't seem to get any of the settings to take advantage of an alpha mask in the brush image. I would expect this to knock out all the White in the background. For example the chain link brush in your example - all the holes in the links print solid White and when you colorize the brush the White areas take on color too. The only way I can get a seemingly transparent brush stroke is to use the min or mult overlay modes in paint fill apply. There are two alpha modes in there but I can't get those to work. I could post examples if needed. I've been looking forward to exploring this brush since the posterous tute went up. Expression was one of my favourite programs till Microsoft cut it off at the knees! Any help appreciated. Cheers B_man

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  • We need to build in an alpha option for the Stretch2 brush type. It's on my to do list.

     

    If you look at Brush Types, there's Source Brush and Source Alpha Brush as 2 different type options, so the stretch brushes are working like stretched versions of Source Brush, where the alpha channel in the brush image is ignored.

     

    Stretch1 Brush was improved in 4.03. It's also missing the alpha feature you want, but it's got a bunch of new features that make it much more useful than it was in the past.

  • The existing StretchBrush2 brush shape is essentially a 'tube'. The brush image that gets painted if you use the Brush for a Fill From or Fill To source is stretched along the path, but the part of the brush used to determine the Fill From - Fill To mix is a tube that tracks the path. The tube width is the height of the source brush (typically an image or movie brush for this kind of brush type).

    We've been improving this brush type recently, so the StretchBrush2 brush type will support alpha as the brush shape in a future release. We're testing it out today.

     

    If there are other feature additions you would like to see us add for the Stretch2 brush type (or other stretch like brush option) in the future, now would be a great time to suggest them.

    • Hi John 

      Good to know you are working on this brush. Looks like you have already added some sort of alpha support - I can colorize a brush stroke without coloring the background now at any rate. Transparency still appears to be an issue. The only way at the moment to make the brush 'thinner' is to reduce the blend mode [ the transparency slider seems to have no effect ]. I've attached an image that shows the problem with this which is that it simply makes the paths segments visible. Transparency based on the brush alpha channel is what you're working towards?

      2472639028?profile=original 

      The other problem I have with the brush is the actual stretch method - from left to right. The attached shows my problem. To draw with a brush that has a 'head' and 'tail' like this one means that you have to set the size for each individual paint stroke otherwise the brush cuts off the right end of the stroke if its too long or repeats creating a dotted line effect if its too short. The old 'Expression' brushes used to allow you to 'pin' the ends of the path and only stretch the middle section. Could that be an option? Another thing I used to like from "Expression' was the ability to randomize the hue of a brush on a percentage basis. So for example you could add a 10% random option and get some very subtle changes. Great for building up backgrounds that had a little human element. Is this something Studio Artist can already do that I have missed? Or can it be done in the future? 

      Cheers

      • I'll take a look at fixing the transparency slider issue.

         

        I hadn't thought about pinning the ends, but i can see why it might be useful. i'll add that to a list of potential feature additions.

         

        If you turn on Modulo in the Path Shape control panel then the stretch will repeat when it goes past the end.

         

        I'm wondering if the fill stretch distance should track a freestyle pen path, rather than sticking to the fixed max path distance, when you are in freestyle pen mode. This is the way path length modulation works. When drawing with interactive pen the paint synth doesn't know how long the actual stroke length will be, but for a freestyle pen path it does. This would enable you to just draw a path and the total shape would stretch to that draw path.

         

        You can randomize the hue of a brush that you are colorizing already in Studio Artist. The 3 Paint Color control panels (Paint Color Source, Paint Color Modulate, and Fixed Color) all have different color randomization controls. So you can randomize the color of an entire paint stroke, random modulate as the stroke progresses, etc. Sounds like we should put together a tip that talks about color randomization and modulation.

        • Hi John

          This is exactly what I'm looking for can't wait for that. Thanks. I found the paint hue thing too, that works brilliantly.Lovin' it!

          "I'm wondering if the fill stretch distance should track a freestyle pen path, rather than sticking to the fixed max path distance, when you are in freestyle pen mode. This is the way path length modulation works. When drawing with interactive pen the paint synth doesn't know how long the actual stroke length will be, but for a freestyle pen path it does. This would enable you to just draw a path and the total shape would stretch to that draw path."

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